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TranceQuina
TranceQuina
Edit history:
TranceQuina: 2018-01-27 12:13:35 pm
2018-01-20 05:12:58 pm
Game Name: Final Fantasy X-2
System: PlayStation 2
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 4:15:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 30:00 (20 minute Ending + 10 minute optional boss, assuming both incentives are met)
Pros: Fairly short speedrun for a PlayStation era Final Fantasy. Plenty of downtime to read donations. No random encounters for almost the entire run. Very cool battle tech is used throughout the run. I successfully ran the game during last years Questing for Glory marathon, so I have experience running this in a marathon setting.
Cons: Game is not that popular. Story is lacking. There are several boss fights where a Game Over can happen entirely due to bad RNG, thus several safety saves will need to be made before those boss fights. There may not be any other runners at the event to provide commentary, forcing me to do it myself while running the game simultaneously.
Donation Incentive Offers: Sing 1000 Words (during cutscene or ending credits), Fight Trema (will be done on a pre-made save file after run is over),
Watch Good Ending (unlocking it is easy but it requires watching normal ending, which together totals about 20 minutes)
Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/185553009 Personal Best completed with time of 3:55:16, no commentary provided
Dowolf
Dowolf
Edit history:
Dowolf: 2018-01-26 10:45:05 am
Dowolf: 2018-01-21 06:08:20 pm
Dowolf: 2018-01-21 05:40:40 pm
Dowolf: 2018-01-21 04:32:51 pm
Dowolf: 2018-01-21 04:25:17 pm
Dowolf: 2018-01-21 11:59:55 am
2018-01-20 05:29:27 pm
Games are listed from highest preference (Shadows of Adam) to lowest (Ar Tonelico II, though if you let AT2 in I'll be the happiest person on Earth so >_>).

Game Name: Shadows of Adam
System: PC
Category: Any%
Estimate: 3:45
Ending: Roughly 10 minutes.

This is an indie Japanese-style JRPG that came out in 2017. The first thing I have to say about this game is that it's absolutely gorgeous: it has some of the best pixel art in anything I've ever seen. Combat-wise, it feels a lot like the Zeboyd RPGs: turn-based combat with lots of unique, interesting abilities that allow us to come up with wildly varied strategies to handle the game's many bosses.

Pros:
+ To elaborate on the above: over the course of the three-hours-and-change run, we wind up using all but a couple of the ~35 skills available to us.
+ The game's developers have a, uh... *cruel* love of status effects, meaning that any fight -- even random encounters -- can go suddenly and hilariously wrong. This is unlikely to lose much time -- I can usually avoid a party wipe, and one useful glitch requires me to save frequently anyways -- but it will add a lot of excitement and tension to the run.
+ Speaking of the game's developers, one of them -- Tyler Mire, who's also the composer -- is actually a fan of speedrunning, hopes to attend Limit Break 2018 himself, and has gladly agreed to allow me to volunteer him to be a commentator. So that's cool.

Cons:
- It's a pretty niche game, but it deserves more love and exposure.
- Cutscenes aren't skippable, and many last several minutes.
- There's a decent chance that, at some point in the run, a boss will just say "no" and not even give us a fighting chance. That's baked into the estimate, and the odds are low enough that I wouldn't worry too much, but the risk is there.

Donation incentives:
+ Suplex the final boss. Takes ~30 seconds or so, and mostly just looks silly, since all the aetheric tendrils of energy spooling from him get suplexed too.
+ King Slimian bonus boss: He's a train for some reason, and he's weak to Suplex. I can't possibly imagine why >_> Note that this would have to be off of a prepared save (the game won't let you fight him before level 30, and we pass the point of no return at 23-ish). Est: 3 minutes.
+ Play the opening dungeon in ASCII Mode: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/221054989 . Speaks for itself, I think.

Video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/219243293


Trails in the Sky: FC
System: PC
Category: Any% w/ Turbo Glitchless
Estimate: 5:15
Ending: ~7 minutes

Ah, Trails in the Sky. This beloved RPG is wonderful and moving and emotional and fantastic and, for years, was probably too slow to make it into a marathon. But then last year, the developers randomly decided to add a button to the game that makes the party go zoom. Literally.

Pros:
+ Turbo. Gameplay is now stupidly fast, with characters zipping from one point to the next, and cutscenes are faster, too.
+ There's also a lot of really cool variety in strats, including some neat Confuse abuse, and any fight can be immediately restarted so there's no danger of losing tons of time from one lost fight.
+ The game autosaves about as often as an FPS runner quicksaves, so no matter what happens, we can pick up where we left off.

Cons:
- There's still an absurd number of cutscenes. They're wonderful, and unforgettable, and involve a warm and fuzzy number of hugs, but they're still there. Waiting. Lurking.
- Combat and strategies are still simplistic compared to later Trails games.
- unlike later Trails games, there's no cutscene fastforward, so cutscenes wind up composing a significant part of the run.
- With Turbo, there's a lot of softlocks. I think I know where all of them are, and how to dodge them all, but it should be noted they exist. Again, with the autosaving, this isn't a big deal, but it's worth mentioning.

Incentives:
+ Glitched vs. Glitchless: There's about five minutes of cutscenes we can skip right now by using Turbo. While this isn't terribly impressive, this does have an interesting side effect: invisible characters in cutscenes! (-5 minutes)
+ Cordelia dramatic readings: It's an in-game book series, and we can have a member of the couch read them during slower parts of the game. (+/- 0)
+ Read the play! About two hours in, the characters put on a play. We could do a dramatic reading, as per the FF6 opera scene (+20 minutes)

(Bonus side note for any glitchhunters who might be reading this: there is one particular spot where, if we can glitch through it, we can bring this game down to sub-3. See https://www.twitch.tv/videos/220693428 for details.)

Video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/220692727

Game Name: Yggdra Union
System: PSP, played on PSTV
Category: Any% Ending A
Gameplay Estimate: 6:00
Bonus Estimate: 0:30 (+15 for Ending B, +15 more for Ending D)
Description: An incredibly cool and fast-paced game with a lot of interesting and connected systems, Yggdra Union is a niche SRPG renowned both for its uncompromising difficulty when playing it blind, and for clearly having been designed by an insane genius.

Pros:
+ Systems completely broken open to get max stats characters by around the halfway point
+ Takes a game known for its difficulty and makes it look easy
+ Hilarious AI abuse
+ Almost no downtime, since all cutscenes can be skipped.

Cons:
- Crits in this game are meaner than in any other RPG I've ever played, and a short string of them could easily force me back to my most recent save. Thankfully, you can save anywhere, which mitigates a lot of that, and the fairly generous estimate should cover the rest.
-The game can also be extremely confusing at first glance ("HUDs inside of HUDs," I think is how WanderingMind phrased it); heck, it's not uncommon for players to beat the entire game without really understanding the systems at play. However, a lot of that is the game being obtuse more than anything else; with a little bit of proper explaining, it's not too hard to get past the confusion.
- As a minor note, the phrase "Jihad bonus" appears on the battle results screen several times. You probably won't see this unless it's pointed out to you because that screen flashes by really quickly, but I didn't want this to be a surprise to the committee.

Donation Incentive Offers: Choice of Recruit Rosary vs. Recruit Roswell (roughly equal in time); Hard Mode (which mostly just gets rid of a lot of free healing); and Ending A vs. Ending B/D (Ending B is on normal, Ending D is on hard). This last one can also be phrased as Give Peace a Chance (Ending A, the canon/bad ending) vs. KILL THEM ALL (Ending B/D, the ambiguous-but-couldn't-possibly-be-as-bad-as-Ending-A ending)

Video: https://www.twitch.tv/dowolff/v/108570132

Game Name: Half-Minute Hero
System: PSP on PSTV
Category: Hero 30, Evil Lord 30, Hero 300, Hero 3
Estimate: 0:25 for Hero 30, 0:10 for Evil Lord 30, 0:07 for Hero 300, 0:03 for Hero 3.

Quick and delightful
Easy schedule filler:
Half-Minute Hero

Incentives:
+ Hero's name, Evil Lord's name.
+ Shorter categories can be treated as incentives outright.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fyh4VlyJYz8

Game Name: Ar Tonelico 2
System: PS2
Category: Any%
Estimate: 11:30 (12:30 for English)
Ending: Included in estimate (There's about 20 minutes from final boss to the final input (which is after the ending song/credits), but the entire game very literally builds up to the ending song, so skipping it feels wrong.)

So this game is one of -- if not *the* -- best JRPG you've never played. Imagine, if you will, that your favorite composer somehow convinced their boss to let them make an JRPG. Now stop imagining, because that's literally what this game is. With four CD's of the most gorgeous, epic, and word-salad-titley music known to man, this game is truly a feast for the ears.
Plotwise, AT2 takes place on an island that's one of the last habitable places on the planet after a disaster poisoned the land below them, and this island is falling apart. Their only hope for survival is to create a new artificial home using song magic. Only problem is, in order to do this, they have to get the entire populace behind them -- no easy task.
So how do we do this? First, in a hallmark of the series, you can dive into characters' heads in VN-style segments to help them deal with deep-seated emotional issues. Additionally, one of the two main characters is in fact a therapist. Using her skills to deal with other characters' mental illnesses is actually a major plot point. I feel like that dovetails nicely with RPGLB's goals.

Pros:
+ The music and plot stuff. Like, there's a song in the game which is about one character opening up to another, and asking her to come out of her shell in turn, all while you literally try to break her out of a shell in a boss battle because yeah it's an RPG, and it's beautiful and I love it and <3 <3 <3
+ Combat-wise, the game's divided into attack and defense phases. On attack, you try to combo your attacks together to extend your attack timer in a Valkyrie Profile-esque system, and on defense, you get Mario RPG-style action timings to block. Toss in a huge crafting system, and what you've got is really cool gameplay.

Cons:
- Some of said music is in Japanese, and most of the rest is in one of two fictional languages. Those languages are amazingly cool (one has infixes. INFIXES! *squee*), but it does perhaps lessen their emotional impact if the audience can't understand the words.
- The game has version-exclusive glitches. Japanese has equipment duplication and infinite money glitches that save a lot of time. English has crashes.
- ...A lot of crashes. There's infamously a boss that always crashes the game on her third turn in English. This isn't actually a big deal, but the game crashes elsewhere too.
- Japanese is significantly stabler, but it still crashes occasionally. I've only seen it crash when loading the world map in the final 15% of the game, which I can safety save around pretty easily, but it is a risk.
(As a third option, there is an unofficial re-translation that makes the game more stable, but I have no way of playing that on official hardware at the moment. Still, if this proves to be the difference between the game getting in or not, I can definitely invest in the stuff!)
- In the second half of the game, we use a glitch to make our attack turns last forever and just throw attack items at the enemies. Sometimes for a while, too: the final bosses take 15 minutes. This isn't as bad as it sounds -- there's also 15 minutes of unique music for the final bosses -- but it is there.

Incentives:
Cloche route vs. Luca route: Would have to be chosen about 2 hours in. Both take about the same time (Luca route is slightly faster).
If on official English: Japanese voices vs. English voices. Note that English voices are painfully bad. Can be changed at any time!
Ending: Can choose between whoever's route you're on (Cloche or Luca), Cocona, and Jacqli. Note that any ending besides Cocona's requires an extra hour of cutscenes, and Jacqli's ending is objectively the best.

Video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/182713471
RuRuQuezacotl
2018-01-20 07:34:39 pm
Twitch: RyuQuezacotl
Twitch: RyuQuezacotl

Open to running multiple games. Preference is Breath of Fire.
----------------------------------------------------
Game Name: Breath of Fire
System: SNES
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 6:00
Ending Estimate: 0:10 (Ending cinematic + credits)
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg0cOx0CRxU

Pros: I can comment on most of the run if needed, but it's not 100% necessary. Loads of time for reading out donations. Relatively safe run.
Cons: Should be a 5:30 run, but bad RNG or a few small mistakes could cost up to 30 minutes. Certain fights I might go silent and ignore everything around me.

Incentives:

1) Name Ryu (4 characters max. May consist of: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, "!". Incentive must be chosen at the start of the run. +0:00)
2) Shin Route (I will be taking the Puka Route -- safer/easier. Can do the Shin route -- harder/faster. Incentive must be hit before the 3.5h mark. -0:10)
3) Karn Solo Mote (Only Karn will be alive for the entire Mote fight. Incentive must be hit before the 3.5h mark. +0:10)
4) Chun Li Easter Egg (Bleak) (Show Chun-li kicking. Incentive must be hit before the 1.5h mark. +0:03)

I'd be open to make this a race if anyone else submits BoF any%. Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm60Izgz3FM

----------------------------------------------------
Game Name: Diablo II - Lord of Destruction
System: PC
Ending Estimate: 0:00

Categories:

Any% Hell SC Sorceress P1
Est: 6:00
Video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/156786482

Any% Hell SC Paladin P1
Est: 7:30
Video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/162823235

Any% Hell SC Assassin P1
Est: 7:30
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/156961503

Pros/Cons:
- Sorceress is the fastest, and probably the most exciting category.
- Paladin has a cool glitch called "swapcasting" that will be showcased for most of the run.
- Assassin is probably the best well-rounded category for a marathon
- All three categories will consist of a 10-30 min grind around the 0:10 mark.
- Sorceress will have two additional 15 min grinds
- Paladin will have two additional 30 min grinds
- Assassin will have two additional 20 min grinds
- The speed of the run is heavily based on RNG.
- Safe run, and the estimated times are also safe. With good RNG, we're looking at saving 1h+ on any category.
- Would strongly suggest using a hand cam for this run.

Incentives
1) Character Name (15 char max. A-Z, a-z, One "_" may be used but it cannot be the starting or ending character. Incentive must be chosen at the start of the run. +0:00)
2a) Save Cain (Normal) (Free Deckard Cain from Tristram. Incentive can be hit at any time. I can do this during or after the run. +0:05)
2b) Save Cain (Nightmare) (Free Deckard Cain from Tristram.Incentive can be hit at any time. I can do this during or after the run. +0:05)
2c) Save Cain (Hell) (Free Deckard Cain from Tristram. Incentive can be hit at any time. I can do this during or after the run. +0:05)
3a) Secret Cow Level (Normal) (Slay the Cow King. Incentive can be hit at any time. I can do this during or after the run. +0:10)
3b) Secret Cow Level (Nightmare) (Slay the Cow King. Incentive can be hit at any time. I can do this during or after the run. +0:10)
3c) Secret Cow Level (Hell) (Slay the Cow King. Incentive can be hit at any time. I will do this after the run. +0:10)
4a) The Hellforge (Normal) (Smash Mephisto's Soulstone. Incentive can be hit at any time. I can do this during or after the run. +0:02)
4b) The Hellforge (Nightmare) (Smash Mephisto's Soulstone. Incentive can be hit at any time. I can do this during or after the run. +0:05)
4c) The Hellforge (Hell) (Smash Mephisto's Soulstone. Incentive can be hit at any time. I can do this during or after the run. +0:10)

----------------------------------------------------
Game Name: Diablo II - Lord of Destruction
System: PC
Ending Estimate: 0:00

Category: Any% Normal <class incentive> SC P1

Classes - Estimate - Video
Amazon - 2:30 - No video
Assassin - 2:30 - https://www.speedrun.com/run/pzgj980z
Barbarian - 3:15 - https://www.speedrun.com/run/emkqpjvm
Druid - 2:30 - https://www.speedrun.com/run/jy96ovvy
Necromancer - 3:00 - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/65333735
Paladin - 2:30 - https://www.speedrun.com/run/9mrdxegz
Sorceress - 2:00 - https://www.speedrun.com/run/dy447v3y

Incentives:

1) Class (Will select the class with the highest donation. Incentive must be chosen at the start of the run. Time variances are listed above.)
2) Character Name (15 char max. A-Z, a-z, One "_" may be used but it cannot be the starting or ending character. Incentive must be chosen at the start of the run. +0:00)
3) Save Cain (Free Deckard Cain from Tristram. Incentive can be hit at any time. I can do this during or after the run. +0:05)
4) Secret Cow Level (Slay the Cow King. Incentive can be hit at any time. I will do this after the run.+0:10)
5) Free the Barbarians (Complete A5Q2. Incentive can be hit at any time. I can do this during or after the run +0:05)
6) Hardcore (Permanent death. If I die, the run is over. This is not marathon safe. I will most likely not die, but it's possible. Incentive must be hit at the start of the run. +0:00)

Pros/Cons:
- The speed of the run is heavily based on RNG.
- Safe run (unless Hardcore incentive is met), and the estimated times are also safe. With good RNG, we're looking at saving 0:30+ on any category.
- The first incentive essentially enables a massive bidding war
- I can comment on most of the run if needed, but it's not 100% necessary
- Loads of time for reading out donations.
- Map reading will be impressive for "casual" players.
lltemple
lltemple
Edit history:
lltemple: 2018-01-27 05:06:47 pm
lltemple: 2018-01-26 08:15:01 pm
lltemple: 2018-01-26 08:09:20 pm
lltemple: 2018-01-26 08:08:56 pm
lltemple: 2018-01-26 07:59:05 pm
lltemple: 2018-01-26 07:58:47 pm
lltemple: 2018-01-26 07:58:21 pm
lltemple: 2018-01-26 07:57:17 pm
lltemple: 2018-01-26 07:56:51 pm
lltemple: 2018-01-26 07:56:18 pm
lltemple: 2018-01-26 07:55:00 pm
lltemple: 2018-01-26 09:01:13 am
lltemple: 2018-01-20 10:17:15 pm
2018-01-20 10:09:44 pm
Game Name: Mother 2
System: Super Famicom
Category: Any% Glitchless (No RNG Manipulation)
Gameplay Estimate: 3:55:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: JRTA Timing (4:10:00)

Pros:
+ In terms of pure speed, Mother 2 is inherently superior to its North American counterpart EarthBound. Not only does the Japanese text allow for less characters printed on screen, but Mother 2 is unique in that it's text system is functionally different from EarthBound. Mother 2's text system, and furthermore menu system, is completely lagless whereas EarthBound lags very heavily in battle and inventory. What this all boils down to is a lower overall estimate and lightning fast menuing in battle and inventory. I consider myself one of the biggest menuing junkies in the community so this run is a real pleasure for me.
+ Possible race with other community members.

Cons:
- Non-English game.
- EarthBound has been featured very heavily in past RPGLB marathons so I could see it getting a break this year.
- Spoiler:
Ness is naked in Magicant in this version of the game which may or may not cause issues. You really cant see anything and its passable as a flesh colored suit.


Donation Incentive Offers: Name Ness/Paula/Jeff/Poo (4 character limit), Name Favorite Food/Pet/Thing (6 character limit), Name the Player (24 character limit), Window Color, Bike/No Bike, Magicant Palette Swap.

Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/222760973 (Please read description)
shentok
2018-01-20 10:58:39 pm
Sega Saturn Speedrunner
Game Name: Panzer Dragoon Saga
System: Sega Saturn
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 5:05
Ending: 10 minutes

Pros/Cons: The game is a very safe run with only one point in the game where death can happen and strats have been done to make it a non-issue. The game has a very dynamic and unique combat system for the time and is still fairly unique to this day. The game moves at a fairly swift pace after the first disc. Nearly all cutscenes and dialog are skippable. There are periods of lull in certain areas, especially on the final disc. This game is a cult classic and serves as the finale to the Panzer Dragoon Saturn trilogy. Not many people know this game and even less have played it. It's a rarity and a treasure of 90s RPGs.

Donation Incentive Offers: File Name (15 characters, Aa-Zz), Dragon's Name (15 characters, Aa-Zz)

Sample run: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgQ7XbiN9y4

Game Name: Magic Knight Rayearth
System: Sega Saturn
Category: Any% Race with Kariohki
Gameplay Estimate: 3:00
Ending: 2 minutes

Pros/Cons: The game has a very slow start with about 20 minutes of voiced cutscenes in the beginning. After that, the game picks up pace and goes right on in. There was a wrong warp found in early 2017 that completely skips an entire dungeon near the end. The game is very bright and colorful with some good Working Designs humor from the few voiced cutscenes after the lengthy intro. The dungeons are interesting with each one being very unique. The run is very stable with very forgiving deaths, though you're very unlikely to die unintentionally during the run. This game was also the very last Sega Saturn game published in the US.

Sample run: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/130538314
Sample of the trick: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/130538314?t=02h04m40s
Drumboardist
Drumboardist
Edit history:
Drumboardist: 2018-02-05 07:28:13 pm
puwexil: 2018-01-25 07:17:47 pm
Drumboardist: 2018-01-20 11:41:29 pm
2018-01-20 11:28:29 pm
Game Name: Ys 3: Wanderers from Ys
System: Genesis
Category: Any%
Gameplay 01:00:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 00:05:00

Pros:
~Ridiculously safe game (saving prior to bosses is fast and...well, prudent). 
~Busts the game wide open, with a ridiculous glitch in the first ~3 minutes of gameplay.
~Is a Ys game, but *without* the grinding.

Cons:
~I dunno, some people *like* murdering copious amounts of owls to get their levelups.

Description:
The 3rd excursion into the Ys series becomes a side-scrolling, platform-jumpin', hacky slashy game where you put on rings and then hit things REALLY hard.  Most of the time, I'm actually going to punch things instead, which isn't a thing you can even *do* in most other versions of this game?  (Oh yeah, Ys 3 came out on the NES, SNES, Genesis, Turbographx-16, PS2, my toaster, probably the Amiga since that sucker got everything...but I think this was the ONLY version where you could attack things, even without equipping a sword.  Good news, that works for the speedrun.)

Donation Incentive Offers:
~Can't really think of any.  It's just Ys 3: The Adventurers of Adol, Monster-Puncher.
Sample run video:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/179418433
(My run from Backgroundguy02's benefit marathon.)

---------------------------------------------------

Game Name: Final Fantasy 1 Randomizer
System:  NES (well, technically PC?  but probably on NES, we can do flash carts)
Category: Any% (possible race, if others are interested)
Gameplay:  02:00:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 00:02:00

Pros:
~It's FF1, but randomized.  the community has been growing, the interest seems to be out there, and Gyre has that sweet, sweet Bingo Board that I wanna get my hands on.
~Also, Races are interesting because of how the party layout can change....a loooot of things.  What spells and equipment you have been able to find tend to make your party, so reworking it on the fly is...interesting.

Cons:
~If you're not a fan of FF1, then this probably isn't for you.
~If you're not a fan of FF1 races, then you probably wouldn't wanna see that.
~I'unno, ARE there any cons to FF1 Rando?

Description:
Final Fantasy, but the shops and chests have been shuffled around.  You never know what you'll find!  it could be a Masmune in the first chest you open!  it could be Imps that have CRACK, and you spend 30 minutes just trying to get past Coneria!  IT'S AMAZING.  (Also, yeah, if anyone is up for a race, I'm down for it.)

Donation Incentive Offers:
~Player names (4 characters maximum, for 4 characters)
~Possible bid-war for forced-classes?  (Possibly 2 max, so we can still TRY to salvage the team)
Sample run video:
https://youtu.be/jmgGt4JwXZ4
(This was a tournament race against Tristal, and went on a lil' longer than I think either of us wanted it to?  With slightly easier flags, it could be a ~2 hour run.)
---------------------------------------------------

Game Name: Final Fantasy 3
System: NES
Category: Any% (teach you to speedrun an RPG!)
Gameplay: 00:45:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 00:05:00

Pros:
~FF3, but you break the game really, really badly, and skip to the credits.  In under 10 minutes.  I can show ya how! 
~Plus, people seemed to enjoy the "learn to Speedrun" thing from AGDQ, so why not teach someone an RPG?  A....short one.  A silly one. 

Cons:
~I hope you weren't expecting a full FF run in here.

Description:
FF3, the infamous run where you get into a fight in town, and shuffle around your inventory a lot, and suddenly you're at the end credits.

Donation Incentive Offers:
~Can't really think of any.
Sample run video:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/28685285

---------------------------------------------------

Game Name: Dragon Ball Z 3:  Ressen Jinzon Ningen (Hot Battle! Artificial Humans!)
System: NES
Category: Any%
Gameplay 01:30:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 00:04:00

Pros:
~Dragon Ball Z RPG that isn't 100% garbage!  (Don't get me wrong, it's 'bout 50% garbage.)
~It's over in less than 90 minutes!
~It's chock-full of Yamcha.

Cons:
~There are segments of the game, where you are NOT using Yamcha.
~Despite the title of the game, 90% of features Freeza, Coola, and their minions as the baddies.

Description:
~Dragon Ball Z!  Where the characters can fly and the Power Levels don't matter.  Except when it's game, and you're required to get things like laxatives and dynamite to accomplish your goals.  Eh, it's a living. 

Donation Incentive Offers:
~Pick the duo that fights the Androids at the end of the game (Piccolo/Gohan, TenShinHan/Chao-zu, or Yamcha/Krillin).
Sample run video:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/206075694?t=01h14m10s
(my run from the "Best of NES" marathon)

-------------------------------------------------
Game Name: RPG Shooter: Starwish
System: PC (Kongregate?)
Category: Hard-Mode, All Endings
Gameplay 02:00:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 00:10:00

Pros:
~It's an RPG.  It's a Shooter.  It's a Visual Novel.  It has a great soundtrack!
~I could probably convince the creator of the game to join for an interview! 

Cons:
~It's a biiiiit of a hard-sell, since it's on-rails.  Not much to do to speed it up, outside of knowing how to play the game well.

Description:
RPG Shooter: Starwish is a freebie game found on a lot of "free game" websites, like Kongregate, ArmorGames, Newgrounds, etc.  Although this *sounds* like it might not be that popular, on Kongregate alone it has nearly two million plays.  It's a bit of a long-shot suggesting this game, but I wanted to throw it out there.

Donation Incentive Offers:
~Pick one of 8 endings!  Nearly all the endings revolve around one of your teammates:  Ginny, Tessa, Johnny, Swig, Deadeye, Mare, Neferiti, plus a "generic" ending, as well as the "secret" ending.
Sample run video:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/166505112
(My run from the SS4C marathon last year.)

Edit:  I initially put Starwishs' endings at nine, which is TECHICALLY correct?  But it requires my ruining the "Super Secret Ending", and turning it into the "Standard Ending".  My bad.  (Also, heya Ghoul!)

\o/
puwexil
2018-01-20 11:33:49 pm
Professional Second Banana
Drumboardist, please reduce your list to meet the limit of 5 games.
Drumboardist
2018-01-20 11:42:07 pm
Apologizes, math was never my strong-suit.  Neither was reading.
Lavitz951
Lavitz951
Edit history:
Lavitz951: 2018-01-26 03:04:27 pm
Lavitz951: 2018-01-26 03:03:55 pm
Lavitz951: 2018-01-25 11:59:06 am
2018-01-21 11:05:46 am
Game Name: Dragon Quest
System: SFC
Category: Dragonloop (Race)
Gameplay Estimate (-ending): 1:55:00 (an average run is ~1:40)
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:03:00

Pros:
+ Recognized by everyone as the original JRPG.
+ The SFC version is a (by far) improved version of the original, everything is rebalanced, much of the grinding eliminated, and battles unfold in a more interesting way.
+ There is very little downtime in the run, no cutscenes.
+ Gameplay differs run to run, based upon the current situation and a player's preference for different strategies. Small optimizations can make a big difference.
+ It is mostly a skill intensive game, but there are some interesting tricks that are used throughout the run: metal slime hit manipulation, half step walking techniques, and the Dragonloop itself, for which the category is named.
+ It is marathon safe.  Nothing can prevent a player from finishing this run, bad luck can only exend the final time a bit longer (which is included in the estimate).
+ We are submitting as a 2-4+ person race, as the constant RNG can cause lead changes and keep things interesting.  Races have gotten a very positive reception in other online marathons.

Potential Racers:
・starofviolence
・POP
・SUMDeaner
・lavkian
・philosoraptor42
・myself

Cons:
- The game was only released in Japanese.  There is a translation patch available and I would be willing to use this version.  However, I would strongly prefer not to use it, as this patch introduces a few bugs that I will have to work around.  Also I feel that, given the straightforward nature of this game, good commentary can make up for the language barrier.
- Text moves very quickly in this game, and it can be difficult to follow what is happening sometimes.  This effects both the JP and English-patched versions.  I believe good commentary and the simple nature of the 1v1 battles can make up for this as well, no matter which language is used. 
- With bad luck, being killed by the last boss (Dragonlord) can happen.  I'll lose around 8 minutes to get back to the fight, but the fight will be a little bit safer the second time around. This possibility has been taken into account in the estimate.
- There is still a section of the game that is grinding, including the Dragonloop (7 dragons) and an additional amount of grinding after that.  There is a good amount of strategy that goes into the Dragonloop grinding, as we need to setup a deathwarp immediately after each dragon is killed.  Commentary and the explanation of this should help it not feel like a grind.  Compared to the rest of the run, the final grind section isn't very long.

Donation Incentive Offers: Bring Princess Laura to the Dragonlord.  This adds very little time.  There is extra text when you talk to the Dragonlord, as well as the ending where you walk away with her.

Sample run video with commentary: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/175674609
Schtolteheim
puwexil
Edit history:
puwexil: 2018-01-25 07:18:16 pm
Schtolteheim: 2018-01-23 11:30:04 am
Schtolteheim: 2018-01-23 11:28:51 am
Schtolteheim: 2018-01-21 04:28:51 pm
Schtolteheim: 2018-01-21 01:47:57 pm
2018-01-21 01:46:26 pm
Game Name: Nayuta no Kiseki/Nayuta: Endless Trails
System: PSP (played on PSTV)
Category: New Game + Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 2:50:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:25:00 (20 mins for Story%, 5 mins for blindfolded crab and potential Sledge Selam deaths)
Sample run video (2:45:10 with live commentary):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGkOTLSaTVY
Personal Best (2:42:56):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGF52-G-MoE
Donation Incentives:
-Story%: Playthrough of an optional epilogue after the standard end of an Any% run. Video timestamp: &t=2h47m
-Blindfolded Cravaltarf: The third boss of the game is incredibly easy and has completely telegraphed attacks. To add a bit of challenge, I can attempt to fight the boss blindfolded. Video timestamp: &t=1h13m07s
-Sledgehammer Selam: Selam is normally the most difficult fight in the game, but in NG+ it's more manageable. If the donators want to make me suffer again, I can attempt to fight the first half of the boss fight with an inferior weapon to the one I normally have. Video timestamp: &t=2h29m20s

Overview:
Nayuta no Kiseki is an action RPG released by Falcom (the developers of Ys and Legend of Heroes) that incorporates a hybrid party-based combat system where you control two characters at the same time. In a New Game + Any% run, I have access to nearly every ability I would have at the end of a New Game Any% run, immediately upon starting. This makes for a fast-paced, hectic speedrun that's simultaneously easy to understand and follow.

Pros:
-Cutscenes are fast-forwardable, meaning most cutscenes last no longer than 30-60 seconds each. This results in a pretty low cutscene-to-action ratio, with the exception of around four minutes of downtime at the beginning of Chapter 6.
-The route I'm using is incredibly marathon safe. Despite a death to Selam in the video, I still finished Any% nearly five minutes below estimate, about two minutes behind my PB. Deaths cost only three minutes, at most.
-Despite the game being in Japanese, the story is simple enough to understand through in-game animations and pictures, as well as commentary. The fact that cutscenes are fast-forwardable also mitigates the dialogue.
-RNG is a non-issue for the entirety of the run. I don't have to rely on any make-or-break randomness, with boss attacks being the only random factor speed-wise.
-There are several tricky jumps and exploits throughout the run, but they're all marathon-safe and can be easily understood by the audience. Here's a notable one: &t=2h20m30s
-No backups are necessary since Game Overs let me either exit to the world map or let me attempt boss fights again. The run won't need to be killed under any circumstance.
-This game is pretty fresh; this route was completed a couple weeks ago, and the game in general hasn't been showcased at a marathon before.
-The soundtrack is absolutely fantastic and for a PSP game the visuals are great. This is Falcom's sound team at their best!

Cons:
-While cutscenes are fast-forwardable, the game decreases the framerate to compensate for the increased speed.
-The game is pretty obscure, which means it might be difficult to get commentary other than myself. I can consult the Falcom Speedrunning Discord for willing people, though.
-My strategy can get a little repetitive toward the end because White Nova is the most hilariously broken spell in the game. I will attempt to keep things as varied as possible.
-I've been told Noi's voice is annoying (an-Noi-ing, perhaps?). I can turn voices off if necessary.
Quatropus
Quatropus
Edit history:
Quatropus: 2018-01-22 05:37:26 pm
2018-01-21 03:24:45 pm
Game Name: Legend of Mana
System: Playstation (played on Playstation 2)
Category: All Story
Gameplay Estimate: 3:54:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 4 minutes to show off one graphical mistake in the credits

Donation Incentive Offers:
- Name player character (10 character limit), loses no time.
- Name pet character (10 character limit), loses time just to name but none after that

Pros:
- Gorgeous looking sprite work and splash backgrounds, which makes it very pleasing to look at.
- Some of the best work that composer Yoko Shimomura has ever down.  Brilliant OST to go alongside the run.
- Nothing super complicating to know.  The run is very straightforward with stuff like step counters and manip.
- Not a whole lot of menuing.  After a certain point, it's just straight up fighting and gameplay.
- Great example of a easy entry level speedrun for newcomers that get into speedrunning from the event.

Cons:
- Some missions just overstay their welcome, dragging on because of dialogue or back and forth running.
- Can't skip cutscenes except for the first.  Each major plot has cutscenes that range from 2 to 5 minutes.
- As much as I enjoy it, creating a weapon that destroys enemies may seem trivial to those who like watching difficult runs.

Sample run video (very strongly encouraged, but not required):
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/221028819

Edit: recently got a new PB and new WR, link is here.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/221379485
Shauny7188
puwexil
Edit history:
puwexil: 2018-01-25 07:18:33 pm
Shauny7188: 2018-01-24 01:22:59 pm
Shauny7188: 2018-01-22 06:53:32 am
2018-01-21 08:11:58 pm
I say Zed a lot.
Game Name: Custom Robo
System: Gamecube, But due to potential Disc read errors I would run it on Wii
Category: Any% New Journey (or potential race or relay race with others of the Custom Robo community that would be there.)
Gameplay Estimate: 2:10:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:05:00

Pros:
+ All the battles in the game have a level of randomness making the runner have to react to pretty much every battle on the fly and act to everything potentially going right or very wrong very quickly.
+ Dying in a battle doesn't lose to much time unless its the end boss.
+ Pretty Short run compared to other games.
+ There is a great run since it showcases off a lot of enemy variety and on how the runner has to deal with it.

Cons:
- The Run itself can get repetitive after day 4 when we have our optimal set up for the rest of the game.
- It was never released in Europe, so might not appeal to that crowd well.
- Can be cluttered on screen on the 2v2 fights (commentary can help deal with this though)

Possible Donation Incentives: Name the Hero (8 character limit), Bad Ending Showcase (+1 minute) Showcasing the NG+ Rahu III Battle (+2 minutes), 1v1 or 2v2 runner multiplayer battles among the other Custom Robo runners

Sample run video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN29vl49fIs
n_man36
puwexil
Edit history:
puwexil: 2018-01-25 07:19:36 pm
2018-01-22 01:11:49 am
Who ate my tacos?
Preferences: Sonic Chronicles > Star Fox Command

Game: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
System: Nintendo DS (Played on Original DS Hardware)
Category: Any%
Estimate: 3:00:00
Incentive Time: Aprox. 10 minutes

Pros: This is currently the only Sonic RPG that has been released. It’s been loved by many (though hated by many as well). The game incorporates an (almost) rhythm based attack system during the turn based battles that happen. For reference, this feature is similar to Elite Beat Agents. The game is mostly controlled by the touch screen of the DS for overworld, text and battle menu functions. A lot of battles are easily dominated in one or two turns with the use of various POW move combinations and smart item management. Also, Big the Cat is a party member in this game. Need I say more?

Cons: This game tends to give some pretty bad RNG in a lot of spots. Several battles are not easily controllable with the strats that I mentioned in the 'Pros' section and I will usually have to come up with backup strats on the fly if something does not go as planned. For example: If I need to add a power buff to Sonic via a POW move through Amy, but Amy is killed off by an enemy, I might be forced to try and take on the enemy without the POW buff, or worse, have to restart the fight by dying. It is also important to know that the game is glitch-free (surprising for a Sonic game…..) so there can be a lot of times where there isn’t much to talk about outside of what tasks are needed to be accomplished. The game is also notorious for having one of the worst soundtracks to ever exist for a video game.

Possible Donation Incentives: There can be an incentive to recruit the optional party members, E-123 Omega and Cream the Rabbit. They would be incorporated into the route in some fashion as they do have some use.
Sample Video (PB): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oendWqkLd2A

Game: Star Fox Command
System: Wii U VC (DS)
Category: Revenge of Pigma (Any% Route)
Estimate: Range of 0:25:00
Incentive Time: Aprox. 8 minutes

Pros: This is a unique Star Fox game which relies on a turn based system. The objective is to strategically map out where your fighters need to fly out to in order to intercept enemy fighters that are targeting your main ship, the Great Fox. Actual battles take place in an all range mode where you shoot down other enemy pilots. Runs require quick thinking with targeting enemy fighters and ending the fight as soon as possible, though in some instances I will try to take out all enemies in order to obtain a bonus missile that can be used by the Great Fox to take out a pack of enemies on the overworld map.

Cons: Like a lot of games, RNG can be a real problem. Enemies can be tricky at times to tail down during dogfights and it is also random as to which bases spawn the most enemies from the overworld map. Generally, I try to tackle down the closest base and hope that a majority of the fighters are stored there because if I were to take down a base before the enemies spawn, they will not be necessary to fight.

Possible Donation Incentive: There are a total of nine possible endings for the game, however I am only submitting the fastest ending. For a donation incentive, I can narrate the ending segments that are provided through the extras menu on a finished save.
Sample Video (PB): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8VYtVWA1kM
Liin
2018-01-22 02:17:48 am
Game Name: Final Fantasy VI
System: SNES
Category: Any% No Sketch
Gameplay Estimate: 4:55:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 28:00 (23m ending, 5m 52 death showcase)

Pros: This category has seen significant route improvements over the past year or so. The new warps have completely changed the endgame, making the run both faster and much safer. There's not too much that can outright kill you, and saves are quick and plentiful. In most cases, bad RNG will only lead to relatively small timeloss. The run features varied strats from simple AI and ATB manipulations to abusing programming bugs to skip or oneshot some bosses. The game is completed with little grinding and the story left (mostly) intact. FFVI in general is always a fan favorite with popular incentives, and No Sketch has not yet been featured at RPGLB or other recent major events.

Cons: The game has still been seen a fair bit. The midgame can drag a bit with cutscenes and not much else going on. The warps, while neat, do trivialize the last dungeon. Final Kefka can still waste a lot of time if you get bad patterns, but the fight is a little anticlimactic (especially if you get lucky).

Possible Donation Incentives: Character names (Terra, Locke, Edgar, Sabin, Shadow, Cyan, Gau, Celes, Setzer, Relm, Strago, Mog, Gogo - 6 letters each)
Train suplex
JerkBird vs GoodTaste rolling background bid war
Save/Kill Cid
Edgar vs Sabin for the final party (will need to cut off just before the opera, ~1:40 in, for magic routing)
Beat the game in 30s - showing off the 52 death glitch without making anyone watch 52 game overs by carrying over data from a premade save to beat the game essentially instantly from New Game (will take about 4-5m to watch the intro, which would have been skipped for the actual run, and start up the credits)

Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/219219781
riversmccown
puwexil
Edit history:
puwexil: 2018-01-25 07:19:59 pm
riversmccown: 2018-01-22 09:34:38 am
2018-01-22 09:34:06 am
Game Name: Final Fantasy IV
System: SNES
Category: Any% No64
Gameplay Estimate: 3:20:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 35:00 (ending is roughly 18 minutes, some buffer time for incentives, some for glitch showcases)

Pros: This category has seen significant route improvements over the past two years, and it was ran at Harvey Relief Done Quick successfully at 3:16. I believe the best way to do this category for the sake of donations and something to keep things fresh is to implement a variable end-game route, where either Edge, Rosa, or Rydia and Rosa (for wall only) get leveled up for the final fight. My buffer time is included because this will likely be slower in some respects. This is a potential race with penguin8r. I hold the WR in this category as of this writing.

Cons: It's a cutscene-heavy RPG. I believe variations were run at the first two LBs. As easy as I've made it seen at GDQs, there are significant time losses possible on the heavy glitches. This game doesn't have an incentive that we know of yet like Demon Chocobo that will keep people entertained as a subplot, though the endgame incentive aims to fix it. 3:20 is not exactly an easy chunk of time, and the donation incentives push it even further.

Possible Donation Incentives: Character names (Cecil, Rydia, Rosa, Kain, Edward, Tellah, Yang, Palom, Porom, Cid, FuSoYa - 6 letters each)
End game character bidwar
Nuke Glitch showcase -- the other fun things you can do that we didn't showcase at GDQ

Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/171923548?t=12h03m28s

Game Name: Barkley Shut Up And Jam Gaiden
System: PC
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 50:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 25:00 (ending roughly 5-6 minutes, and incentive would include an upgrade to 100%)

Pros: It's the 10-year anniversary of one of the best RPGs to have ever come out of post-cyberpocalyptic Neo New York. This was run successfully at Questing for Glory, and since doing that, I took WR in this game by about a minute. It's a brisk RPG with a delightful story and some major loopholes to exploit. Even if RNG goes as bad as it can on the early fights, the routes have been simplified and can be made even more marathon-safe to prevent anything too bad from happening.

Cons: The fact that so much of the story is skipped is a major point of sadness, and it does include some language and situations that are more adult than RPGLB's core values. (So maybe skipping the story is a good thing!) For most of the run we'll be going so fast that it's hard to explain a lot of what's happening, and there are so few runners of this game that good commentary might be hard to find. Watching the speedrun itself leaves me with an overwhelming sense of "That Happened."

Possible Donation Incentives: Any% vs. 100% -- I haven't learned 100% but would happily do it
Cyberdwarf goes on a date vs. Save the frames
Cyberdwarf's date as done by me or Cyberdwarf's date as done by chat in StrawPoll

Sample run video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JwaK9wEYAc&t=7s

Game Name: Final Fantasy IV Unprecedented Crisis
System: SNES (ROMHACK)
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 1:15:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 21:00 (ending is roughly 10 minutes)

Pros: This is a Final Fantasy 4 Romhack made by PinkPuff that exploits an intended speedrun skip to beat the game much faster than the actual speedrun would. PP decided to fix Mist Clip by sending the party straight to the final dungeon, where you're supposed to get slaughtered. However, by means of a small leveling section to fix agility, the infinite money glitch, and then some clever uses of potions and available armor in Lunar Subterranae, you're actually able to level up Kain (and Cecil if you wanted to) and just take on Zeromus one-on-one well before the game would want you to. This creates some especially funny moments when you see who is waiting at the core for you, and also messes with the intended ending of the Romhack in a hilarious way. I hold the WR in this category. This is a potential race with Couch_23.

Cons: It's a grind-heavy speedrun (two grinding sessions), and while it involves a lot of technical skill to pull off the tricks, most of the run is spent in that grinding. There's not many donation incentives I can think of. And, of course, the lingering issue of "speedrunning a romhack most people haven't heard of" is also a potential problem.

Possible Donation Incentives: Character names (Cecil, Kain)
Level Cecil up too vs. Save The Frames

Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/155991571

Thank you for your consideration!
AndyW3321
AndyW3321
Edit history:
AndyW3321: 2018-01-22 12:09:20 pm
AndyW3321: 2018-01-22 12:07:49 pm
AndyW3321: 2018-01-22 12:07:38 pm
2018-01-22 12:07:03 pm
Game Name: Breath of Fire II
System: SNES
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 7:30
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 9 mins for the first part of the credits (this is up to the part where people will bid on the neutral or good ending) +10 mins for the rest of the credits (can be skipped to set up next event)

Pros:
+Breath of Fire II has not been in a GDQ or a RPGLB
+Great music and plot. Game has a strong following.
+No sequence breaks so people not familiar with the story will get to see all of the events. I also love to narrate the story and explain the tech during my play through.
+Many new glitches have been discovered by myself in the last few months. This has resulted in the run shaving off 30-45 minutes. The run is very safe and will finish within the time that I have given.
+Game play changes up. At the beginning we use melee attacks and hardly any magic. About a 1/3rd into the run we use magic quite a bit and then the last 1/3rd of the run is a nice balance of the two.
+Very few cut-scenes so there is hardly any breaks from the action.
+Audience will choose the fate of our hero. The game has 3 endings but they will be bidding for the "good" or "neutral" ending. The good ending is saving our father and not the saving our father will result in the  neutral ending, which  is consider by many to be the better ending. Not saving your father also saves frames

Cons:
-Due to the heavy RNG nature of this game; I put a 30 minute buffer from my PB to cover this variable. Even if RNG goes bad, the run will finish on estimate time but may end a bit early if it goes well.

Donation Incentive Offers:
1) Name main character (4 characters max. May consist of: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, "!" "?" "-" ".". Incentive must be chosen at the start of the run. +0min)
2) Choose the Ending of the game - bidding war - (Save your father vs Kill your father) Save your father results in the good ending and killing your father results in the neutral ending. There are a few other things we must do to get the good ending but we are doing them during the run so this adds no time to the run. Killing our father does save a few frames thou! --- This bid war will end roughly at the 6 hour mark of the run. We can set a few spots as the cut off or I can say on the fly when a good time would be to cut off. (Either after the Daisy scene or after the fight with the 2- archers +0 mins)

Sample run: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/220071024
Gonzo_SEAL
2018-01-22 02:00:23 pm
Love is the Key to Peace.
Game Name: Final Fantasy X HD Remaster
System: PS2 played on PC
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 9:50
Ending/Bonus Estimate: ~0:22 (22 min ending/Melodies of Life sing-a-long + 10 min Booster Nemesis exclusive fight)

Pros/Cons: This is one of the most marathon safe runs/games out of all the Final Fantasies. Very minimal RNG factors and very cutscene heavy which means lots of downtime for donation readings. FFX is one of the most iconic games of the FF series. It was the first FF to ever hit the PS2 scene. This game relies heavily on menuing and specific sphere grid stats while also using Rikku's mix overdrive to our full advantage and exploit to get through as quickly as possible, I believe this game will have the nostalgia effect and bring people in to watch. FFX is mainly composed of a long story-line and gameplay however this game has been optimized to finish very quickly and efficiently. This game is very marathon safe while running this on the PC because of the exclusive "Autosave Feature"  that this game does provide. Running on the PC means faster load times and Many FMV skips to provide a bit a speed, but no cutscene skips. There will be extra saves made in the case that something was missed or something went wrong, but overall this run has been completely optimized by the Final Fantasy X community. With very minimal RNG factors, if there is something that went wrong all that means is that it will be a slower run. I believe 9:50 is a good estimate to include very bad RNG aswell as the many incentives that have been thought of for this game. The video down below is a submission VOD that was created with commentary and with RPGLB in mind. You will notice that even with decent/bad RNG and with incentives that we still finish under estimate (9:50:00).

Donation Incentive Offers: Naming Tidus and Aeons (Valefore, Ifrit, Ixion, Shiva, Bahamut - 8 character limit for all), showing Tidus/Yuna Macalania cutscene (~+3 min), Sing suteki da ne, Fighting  the Nemesis "Superboss" with Boosters [Have save states for this] (+10 Min)

Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/220043729 - Has commentary with different people through out the run. Really bad RNG and a few resets of the game, showcases that even with everything going bad the run still finishes under estimate.
Bizkit047
2018-01-22 03:26:19 pm
Game Name: Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5
System: PS4
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 3:10 (very safe estimate)
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 10 minutes postgame
Pros/Cons:
+Category hasn't been run at RPGLB in a few years, way newer and faster strats not even seen at SGDQ 2017
+Very diverse strats used throughout the run, the run uses many tools that many would casually ignore
+Good incentive potential during & postgame
-Gummi Missions overall take up 20 minutes of run of a side scroller
-Category was run at SGDQ 2017
Donation Incentive Offers: Possibly doing a bid war of optional Org Boss fights during the run. Could add up to 20-25 minutes to run. Other incentives: Read bottom of post.
Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/221343268

Game Name: Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5
System: PS4
Category: LV1 Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 3:35
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 10 minutes postgame
Pros/Cons:
+Considered the ultimate challenge run for many players
+This was last in RPGLB on PS2, now strats are much faster and the game is much faster
-Gummi Missions overall take up 20 minutes of run of a side scroller
-A couple fights on LV1 can lose a fair amount of time to unlucky deaths
Donation Incentive Offers: Read bottom of post for incentives
Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/133276313

Game Name: Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5
System: PS4
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 2:50
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 10 minutes postgame
Pros/Cons:
+This category has never been done at RPGLB before
+Run displays EXP 0 ability hidden properties that surprise casual viewers later on in the run
-Opening cutscene not skippable
-LV1 Any% of this was done at RPGLB 2017
Donation Incentive Offers: Read bottom of post for incentives
Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/77369754

Game Name: Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5
System: PS4
Category: LV1 Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 3:15
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 10 minutes postgame
Pros/Cons:
+Category hasn't been run at RPGLB in a few years, way newer and faster strats not even seen at SGDQ 2017
+Unique ways of abusing EXP 0 that normal Proud does not do
-This category was run at RPGLB 2017
-Near the end of the run has a fight where you can randomly die to repeadily and waste 5-20 mins potentially (though not very likely)
Donation Incentive Offers: Read bottom of post for incentives
Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/153918996

Incentives: Due to all 4 categories being on the same disc, I can combine all the post-game incentive potential to be done no matter what category would be run, since it would take 1 minute to load up a file with the bosses/glitches. It would be hard to decide which are worth doing, but listing them for potential:
-Fight Sephiroth in 1.5 and/or 2.5 at LV1. (10 minutes or up to 20 both if worst case)
-Fight Terra in 2.5 at LV1 (5-10 mins)
-Bid War to do 1 to 5 Data Org fights at LV1 in 2.5 (Around 15 mins)
-Displaying Oathkeeper cutscene glitch in 1.5 (5 minutes)
-Fight Unknown in 1.5 (5-10 minutes)
Gerrick
2018-01-22 04:32:37 pm
Here are my submissions for this year's event. In order of preference.

Shadow Hearts:Covenant
System: PS2
Category: New Game+
Estimate: 5:45

Donation Incentives:
1. Stud Card Showcase:1:30, may be a bit to risque, but I'll leave that to the committee. Here is a link that shows them all http://shadowhearts.wikia.com/wiki/Stud_Cards
2. Fusion showcase: 2 minutes. Just showing off what each of Yuri's fusions look like.
3. Cornelia's Dresses: 2 minutes: Equip each of her dresses to show them off.
4. Joachim's Weapons: 12 minutes added to the estimate. Will pick up each of Joachim's weapons. This is the same as it would have been with Frank in From the New World. Each scene has Joachim pick up an every dayish item, that he then can equip as a weapon. BowietheHero has offered to do some voice acting for these cutscenes. One does require me to fight a boss, while another will require a premade save file that I will show off at the end of the run.
5.I am willing to make this a bid war between Any% and New Game+. However I'm really not super interested in running Any%, but am willing to do so for the sake of charity. my Any% estimate would be a 6:20

A couple of quick notes about New Game+. Unlike in other games, not everything carries over. We start from level 1, but we have access to several useful tools. Your crests, which are the magical abilities in the game, Yuri's fusions, Gepetto's dresses, Kurando's fusions, and Anastasia's abilities all carry over. Two pieces of equipment, the White Underpants, and Black Underpants, both carry over which are both sold int he run. So, though you have access to more tools in the run, you aren't quite
impossibly over powered, due to mechanics in the game, and MP values.

Pros: Any% and New Game+ are very safe runs in comparison to the other titles in the series. Bosses are fairly easily dealt with by exploiting the mechanics we do in the run, and have little to no chance to kill the run, with a couple of exceptions.  New Game+ shows off far more of the broken mechanics in the game. It also shows off more of everyone's abilities. You get to see several abilities that you never get to see in the Any % run. Mechanics are used to kill bosses as quickly as possible, and judgment rings are more varied, and difficult. Overall new game+ is less "do energy charge and attack for 5ish hours" than Any%, making it a far more interesting speedrun.

Cons: New Game+ can sometimes be considered a con, since you aren't doing an RTA of the game. Disc 2 is very much the same strategy for almost every boss. No glitches, or bugs to show off. Fairly easy run. Most challenging thing is hitting judgment rings, some of which are 3 frame windows.
One Final note for this submission. I am not actively working on NG unless it gets in. I am actively working on NG+ so I expect my PB to improve in the coming weeks.

PB for NG+:https://www.twitch.tv/videos/219179819
PB for NG:https://www.twitch.tv/videos/210909018

Game Name: Rogue Galaxy
System: PS2 on PS4
Category: Any%
Estimate: 6:10:00

Donation Incentives:
1. Costume Selection: each character has 5-6 extra outfits they can be equipped with. Bid war to decide who wears what. Could be cut down to what specific characters wear, or specific costumes. I included a link below to the costumes.
http://roguegalaxy.wikia.com/wiki/Costumes
2. Banter on or off: An annoyance to the runner in the similar vein of Demon Choccobo. Can be turned on and off in the game at the cost of 10-12 of seconds each time.
3. Third party Member from Chapter 7 until we have to swap specific people around in Chapter 11 for level requirements.
4. Out of bounds glitch. Add four minutes to the estimate.

Pros: Interesting run with exploited mechanics to punish difficult bosses people would have experienced in a casual play through. Very tight item route, getting only what is required other than what we get from drops. Manipulation of the Weapon creation system to get more powerful weapons than normally available.

Cons: Two "dead" sections of mostly walking and nothing happening, The Tower Power 35ish minutes, and the Walk to Mother.
PB Video https://www.twitch.tv/videos/115271995
osey889
2018-01-22 04:49:14 pm
Game Name: Odin Sphere Leifthrasir
System: PS4
Category: Any% (Gwen, Cornelius, Oswald, or Velvet)
Gameplay Estimate: 1:30:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: None

Pros/Cons: This Action RPG is a remastered version of the cult classic PS2 game with several major changes to the core gameplay to make the combat more fast paced and combo-oriented. The speedrun route uses minimal level grinding and uses equipment to turn the characters into glass cannons which makes for very intense fights. As a bonus, the game is gorgeous, with the hand drawn sprites that Vanillaware has become famous for.
Sadly we don't get to have access to alot of the "cooler" skills in the game due to them being out of the way, so some of the combos might seem a bit repetitive. While there are minor tricks, there are no major glitches. Instead, the focus is on the general difficulty and execution barrier. I am not offering Mercedes as a character option as she is the most difficult for me personally, and I find her run to be very not fun to do or watch, and All Books (the true ending) is nearly 7 hours long.

Possible Donation Incentives: Character Bidwar - Each character is treated as their own category, as each plays very differently from each other, has their own route for money/exp, and unique bosses.
Japanese vs English Voice Acting (Not a Rolling Incentive)
Sample Run: Gwen: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/218760604?t=  Cornelius: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/170841110
Oswald: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/219407408  Velvet: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/221141173
ShadowKiller4826
puwexil
Edit history:
puwexil: 2018-01-25 07:20:26 pm
ShadowKiller4826: 2018-01-22 05:33:36 pm
ShadowKiller4826: 2018-01-22 05:33:21 pm
2018-01-22 05:32:00 pm
Game Name: Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals
System: SNES
Category: Ancient Cave Any% Race with Elmgus, Jenja23, and ThatsFairZack (or solo)
Gameplay Estimate: 2:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: None

Pros:
-Race would include 4 of the top runners from around the world.
-Nice change of pace from the standard RPG speedrun.
-The Ancient Cave is completely random, so no runner will encounter the same enemies and floors, making for a great race experience for the audience.

Cons:
-No run is guaranteed to finished because of the randomness of the Ancient Cave, but with four runners the probability of at least one person finishing is very high.
-There is no story for the audience to follow. 

Donation Incentive Offers: Name Maxim (main character), Choose Capsule Monster, Name Capsule Monster
Sample run video:
Running:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBVDjqVwYbs
Helping do Commentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6BnmqhXK5w&t=64s
puwexil
puwexil
Edit history:
puwexil: 2018-01-26 11:12:38 am
puwexil: 2018-01-25 11:17:26 pm
2018-01-22 05:46:13 pm
Professional Second Banana
Game Name: Chrono Trigger
System: SNES
Category: Glitchless Any% or 100% (All Quests), No RNG Manipulation
Gameplay Estimate: 4:50 (Glitchless Any%), 5:50 (Glitchless 100%)
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:12 Ending
Pros: 100% fights almost all bosses (several of whom are skipped in a normal CT speedrun), many battles are more challenging/exciting without use of glitches/RNG manip (notably Heckran, Magus, and Lavos), same technical movement to avoid encounter triggers as other categories, good variety in characters/techs/combos used over the course of the game.  Routing & boss strats have been refined a lot over the past year, both for speed & consistency.  I have developed a Glitchless Any% marathon-safe route that allows for 100% (which is the much more interesting & optimized category for CT Glitchless) to be a donation incentive, which doesn't need to be met until about 3 hrs into the run.
Cons: 100% is a bit on the long side for a SNES RPG speedrun, quite a few boss battles use the same general strategy (use the most powerful combo tech that you have and heal as needed).
Donation Incentive Offers: Name Crono, Marle, Lucca, Frog, Robo, Ayla, Epoch, Magus (5 character limit), Sing Gato's Song, Death Peak Hug (Marle vs. Lucca - 100% only), Epoch vs. Balloon Ending (+2 min for Balloon Ending - 100% only), Finish Off Lavos Core with the WonderShot (+1 min - 100% only, might need to drop this for marathon safety)
Sample run video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mKeelae_B8 (Glitchless 100% run), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83qISYU23_4 (Glitchless Any% Route Overview)

Game Name: Final Fantasy VI
System: SNES
Category: Glitchless Any% or 100% (All Characters/Espers)
Gameplay Estimate: 5:45 (Glitchless Any%), 7:00 (Glitchless 100%)
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:23 - ending
Pros: This run makes optimized/interesting use of the Esper levelling system, equipment/relics, and enemy AI manipulation in order to defeat bosses without use of glitches that normally allow them to be insta-killed or skipped.
Cons: The Thamasa segment of the World of Balance is pretty slow-paced & cutscene heavy, Glitchless Any% category doesn't have many significant route/strat changes since RPGLB16 run.
Possible Donation Incentives: Naming characters (Terra, Locke, Edgar, Sabin, Shadow, Cyan, Gau, Celes, Setzer, Strago, Relm, Mog, and Gogo, plus Umaro in 100% - 6 character limit), Phantom Train Suplex, Opera sing-a-long, rolling bidding war over text box background (wouldn't mind giving this a break since it's been done quite a few times, but happy to do if wanted), save or kill Cid
Sample run video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IEgQiGDElE (Glitchless Any%), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBoYj-1UCF4 (Glitchless 100%)

If FF6 is accepted, I would prefer for another category like No Sketch to be run - I'll happily be backup in case that runner can't make it and an FF6 run is still desired.
Fricassee
2018-01-22 08:32:53 pm
Trails of Cold Steel, Cat Quest
Game Name: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel
System: PC
Category: Any% Easy Turbo (4/2) or Any% Easy Turbo (2/2)
Gameplay Estimate: 3:25 (4/2), 4:15 (2/2)
Ending/Bonus Estimate: Bonus - 5-10 minutes, Ending - 5 minutes

Pros:
- Safe routing: While there can be some time loss based on RNG, free retries make it nearly impossible (in Easy) to rip the run.
- Cool Music: The soundtrack is amazing
- Crisp Gameplay: Despite the large amount of cutscenes, there is a lot of crisp movement, menuing, and mechanics in battle, with just enough RNG to make every run a little different
- Fresh Game: Has only been run as part of the RRLAT, otherwise hasn't been seen in any major speedrun event.

Cons:
- Cutscenes: Still a lot of unskippable cutscenes. Turbo makes them more tolerable, but can be hard to follow.
- Too Fast, Too Furious: Turbo 2/2 can be a little hard to follow if you don't know the game, but I think it's alright. Turbo 4/2 might be too fast for someone who doesn't know the game.
- Minor Crashing: Just this past week I started getting crashing. Safety saving and backups can eliminate the issues, and I've only had it happen twice in about 150 hours of runs.

Donation Incentives:
- Bonding Moment (0-3 minute addition): Bid war between 12 characters to see who you have the bonding moment with at the end.
- Live Costume Bidwar (about 30 seconds per costume change): Offer a bidwar between some of the different costumes, and change them in real time. May require NG+ and a minor change to the route.
- Watch the Concert (~3 minutes): Stop turbo and allow watching the concert at the end at normal speed.

Sample Run Videos:
Any% Turbo 2/2 with commentary in two parts, due to one of the two crashes (https://www.twitch.tv/videos/221424495 , https://www.twitch.tv/videos/221384437)
Any% Turbo 4/2 WR with no real commentary (https://www.twitch.tv/videos/218178459)
Tide
Tide
Edit history:
Tide: 2018-01-28 03:56:20 pm
Tide: 2018-01-25 10:34:54 pm
puwexil: 2018-01-25 07:20:44 pm
Tide: 2018-01-22 11:24:53 pm
Tide: 2018-01-22 11:07:12 pm
Tide: 2018-01-22 10:59:29 pm
2018-01-22 10:51:33 pm
Insanity Prelude
I can probably only make it at Saturday May 18th if I am coming just as a heads up:

Game Name: Resonance of Fate
System: Playstation 3 (technically Xbox 360 too, but I've been playing on PS3 primarily)
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 3:00:XX

Donation Incentives:
1. JP vs ENG voice acting
2. Show off guns with massive multiple barrels (maybe 1:30 to 2:00)
3. Dress up characters for the last Chapter (also the longest).
4. Room Reset counter with a donation of say $5 for every room that forces a reset
5. View stats after the game (about 3:00)
6. Tide explains Resonance Plot during the ending (Because Resonance Plot is that convoluted  - about 7 minutes? Length of the ending)

Pros:
This is John Woo RPG if John Woo made RPGs. It has a very unique battle system which makes watching it very visually appealing. You can run, jump and shoot some dudes while you are at it. Although the number of actions you can do is limited, there is an incredible amount of depth because it is similar to Valkyrie Profile 2 in that it is semi-action based. Position and timing are everything and there are certain subtleties that affect the run and make it all come together. It is a relatively safe run due to its in-game "continue" feature (more on this later) and every fight is uniquely different just due to the layout of the map and enemies involved. Overall, it is a very interesting and unique run to watch.

Cons
The route of this game relies on some drops from enemies during the a couple portions of the game. Once in C4 and once in C7. In both cases, there is no quick save point to save and reload. So a prepped file must be created in each case so if luck of the draw does not pan out (normally this is a run reset) the run can still continue. Certain fights can also be tricky in getting things to work out exactly as they should (it's almost always worth resetting every time. An added problem is in this game is that money is VERY exact. For this reason, room resets cannot always be used early on  (although this shouldn't be a problem - these rooms are typically very easy).

Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/130367343 - Current PB.


Shadow Hearts: Covenant
System: PS2
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 6:15
Ending Estimate: 0:10

Donation Incentives:
Similar to Gerrick's for the most part but I'll just add another:
1. Eternal Key on Final Boss (~2:00) - A prepped save file is to be used for this. Sad that your favourite character wasn't used? You're in luck! Pick any of the 7 characters other than Yuri and watch them one shot the Final Boss. Want to see Gepetto dance his way to victory? This is your chance
2. Hilda Cameo / Marguerite Cameo / Lenny Cameo ( ~2:00-3:00 for each) - Similar to above, save files can be prepped. See other Shadow Hearts characters in this game as well as the fate of Lenny!
3. Zurich/Ending Scene (~5:00 for Zurich ~10:00 for ending) - Both of these scenes are very good and worth watching. Also gives us some time to break down some of the feels in the story but much more timely.

Special Note: I am primarily submitting this as a race incentive between myself, Gerrick and any other Shadow Hearts: Covenant runners. Of particular note is that the route I use is different than what other people use, so it will be interesting too to see how much of a difference there is from one main decision in the routing.

Pros: As Gerrick noted, Covenant is a very safe run overall. You CAN get killed but it requires sloppy play and over confidence. A cool thing about Covenant is how the decisions tend to cascade over into big time savers so you can see visually by utilizing the tools given how broken the game ends up being. There are also some subtleties in the first disc that lead to very cool routing decision as well as one overall decision that changes the items and strategies deployed for a while. If this is done in a race, it will be interesting to see the trade offs between reliability versus difficulty.

Cons: Again as noted, Covenant doesn't really have interesting glitches. Strats in latter Disc 2 are largely the same because it is by far and away the most effective way of doing things. Most rings are easier than those in FTNW, which while makes it easier and unlikely to lose runs, is also less tense throughout. 

Sample Run:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/175134655


Game Name: Wild ARMS 3
System: PS2
Category: Any % Glitchless
Gameplay Estimate: 10:00:00

Donation Incentives:
1) Name the 4 Playable Characters. This is a Rolling Incentive because once every chapter, you have to visit the town where the names can be changed. To avoid major disruptions, I suggest doing the roll once every Chapter
2) Name major used Spells (Valiant, Arc Impulse, Quick, Attachment, Weaken; will need to check frequency)
3) Choose which character gets the killing blow on final boss. Due to the way the final boss is beaten, you can get any of the 4 characters to deal the final blow unlike in other RPGs where one person must be the damage dealer.
4) Bonus Commentary in Cantonese if requested!

Pros: Other than Wild ARMS 1, it's probably the Wild ARMS most other people are familiar with. For a long game it also has a consistent route, with only 1 or 2 points which are random. The game also features on-the-spot continues as well as a Save anywhere feature, so its actually very marathon friendly to boot. The strategies for fights are all varied due to Wild ARMS' nature of including boss gimmicks at every turn, so they all require different tactics to chew through efficiently. The final battle is worthy of a watch for certain because it showcases just what you can do with the in-battle switching. Amazing soundtrack too (that we will actually get to hear)!

Cons: It's long. Yeah I know it too. At 10 hours, this is one of those games where even people are interested in the run may not be able to keep up with the entire thing. It's also not from as popular of a series - there hasn't been a new Wild ARMS game since 2007 so naturally, it's probably not winning a lot of points on drawing a crowd.

Sample run video:
Part 1 - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/20215507
Part 2 - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/20216081
Part 3 - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/20216471

Game Name: Wild ARMS 4
System: PS2
Category: Any %
Gameplay Estimate: 5:30:00

Donation Incentives:
1) Name major used spells (Joint Struggle, Slow Down, Hyper, Gather, etc.). This can be rolling. 
2) Yulie death counter with a $5 donation for every Yulie death
3) Mute Jude/Jude quoting option
4) Play through Super Jude Bros platforming game

Pros: This is a very fast paced RPG when it comes to battles. It is an offensively oriented game with some platforming elements. There are large damage numbers flying around and the run utilizes many of the skills in the cast's skillset to dispatch enemies as quickly as possible. All battles are pretty much "High Risk, High Reward". There are a few new skips to boot since the last time it was in, which will be cool to show off too. Hasn't been in since 2013.

Cons: It has similar popularity issues as Wild ARMS 3, with the added caveat that it is also probably the least popular Wild ARMS of the numbered series (I think XF is the least popular). Few donation incentives. High Risk nature means that battles can often swing one way to the other, making viewers perhaps confused on if it was just all RNG.

Sample Run:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_P1p0-kY1o


EDIT: Game Name: Shadow Hearts: From the New World
System: PS2
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 4:10:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 15:00 (15m ending)

Pros: See LCC - I am willing to run this if it is a race. It's a fast paced, offensively focused RPG with lots of tense battles and a lot of management of stock meters to ensure the  fastest possible times.
Cons: A game of high risk and high rewards. Was in last year.

Sample Run Video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/148199512
WanderingMind
WanderingMind
Edit history:
WanderingMind: 2018-01-25 08:37:56 pm
WanderingMind: 2018-01-25 08:22:03 pm
WanderingMind: 2018-01-24 09:05:46 pm
WanderingMind: 2018-01-24 08:58:27 pm
WanderingMind: 2018-01-23 09:53:41 am
WanderingMind: 2018-01-23 09:44:15 am
WanderingMind: 2018-01-23 09:39:05 am
2018-01-22 11:04:57 pm
Stay chill, be cool.
Game Name: Valkyria Chronicles II
System: PSP, played on a PSTV
Category: Any% Normal
Gameplay Estimate: 3:45:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 15:00
Pros:

+A turn-based strategy RPG with third person shooter elements that combines the best of both genres.  Well received at the Really Really Long A Thon (Dec 2017) and Shots Fired: Locked and Loaded (Nov 2016).
+Wide variety of missions including capturing camps, taking out enemy commanders, escorting APCs, and finding supply crates.  The route only deals with 3 missions where we eliminate all enemies, and since they're early on, they don't take too long.  The vast majority of missions have randomness with enemy placement and other factors, which requires me to react to multiple possibilities.  The story missions, which, despite being fixed, are incredibly difficult casually and even require great execution to avoid a game over.  This run takes the game and pushes it far past the original intended limits, as tricks and abilities are used that the developer clearly didn't intend.
+The series as a whole has exploded in popularity thanks to a PC/PS4 port, leading to the spinoff title Valkyria Revolution released last year, while Valkyria Chronicles 4 is on the way later this year for the PS4/Switch/Xbox One.  VC2 was less popular than the original, in part due to the change in setting to a school and move from the PS3 to the PSP. That said, it's regarded as one of the best PSP games to come west, where it received high praise from IGN, Gamespot, and Destructoid, and the game is mechanically very similar to the original.
+Free movement in third person mode without the ability to take back actions once you take control of a character means that the game is very skill based.  Unlike the first game, you cannot save and load during battles, so every action counts.
+Wide variety of characters used throughout the run means that no one character will dominate the field.
+Any% Normal provides a decent sense of challenge while still going fast and providing entertainment, with the 55 missions I do for the route taking no more than 10 minutes each on average
+Swag strats to look cool, such as the blind shots in the dark, attempting to drive an Escort APC backwards for part of a mission, and the swag kill on V2 units (start at 3:34:59 on the sample run video)

Cons:

-20 minutes of defend missions in the later part of the run, but that's when I muse on how long I've been running the game, how far I've come, my own struggles with mental health, and how I deal with the more tense moments of the run.  I did exactly this during my Really Really Long A Thon run.
-I will need a weapon essential to the route that randomly drops around the 30 minute mark of the run.  However, if I do not get it on my first try, I have a backup save that I can load up right away.  I wait to do my first equipment upgrade menuing until after the weapon drop, which helps with transparency.

Donation incentives: Name the tank (6 character limit); watch a ridiculous anime cutscene from the ending sequence (2 minutes); glitch showcase (10 minutes)

Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/211179871 (RRLAT run.  Restreamer didn't realize he had his mic on for something else until a few minutes in, forgive the audio problems there.  Hopefully my voice was audible enough during that time.  This run showcases some of the randomness I can encounter in what was on the whole a solid run, and I have to say, I'm quite proud of myself for doing commentary by myself for almost 4 hours.  Of course, I'd have other people helping out with commentary if this were to get in.)